Great news.
Baldeagle wrote:
The only other fixed rotor, winged autogiro to fly in the last 40 years was Steve Pitcairn's, now in the EAA Museum, still flyable I think, but not likely to fly any more. I've heard that in the '60s there was a vintage Cierva autogiro that flew in Spain, but don't know anything about that one.
Strictly speaking you are right, BE, in the lack of 'winged' autogiros. The later Cierva wingless autogyros aren't as streightforward though!
The last of the Cierva line stopped flying I think in the '60s. The Shuttleworth Collection examined the possibility of their Avro C-30 Rota being restored to fly, at my request, but decided against it, reasonably I think, as the safety record and performance restrictions of the type were trickier than desirable for an airshow and recreational type. Soon after it was restored to taxi condition and trundled around at Old Warden, but was then sold to Kermit Weeks where it hangs from the roof.
However the RAF Museum lent their Avro Rota (since returned and on display) to the Spanish Air Force Museum in return for a CASA Jungmann, and the Spaniards made a new-build with original parts of a C-30, which the flew, IIRC, in the mid 1990s for a couple of years. It's now grounded in the museum, as, again, I think it was just a bit too challenging and it was dinged (and repaired).
I'd be interested in any info on the 1960s Spanish 'flyer', BE, while there's a bit more from my friend Gary Brown in this post in a thread you also contributed to!
http://forum.keypublishing.co.uk/showpo ... stcount=33
Cheers
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